Nawaz okays alliance talks

PML-N chief gives green signal to close aides to continue negotiatin alliance with other factions of Muslim League.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has given the green light to his close aides to continue negotiating an alliance with other factions of the Muslim League but has asked them to move forward cautiously,  keeping in view the sentiments of the party workers against the leadership of ‘breakaway’ factions.

Contrary to statements of some party bigwigs ruling out any alliance with smaller factions of the Muslim League, sources close to Nawaz Sharif told The Express Tribune that he has not rejected the idea outright but wants to go slow and finalise things just before the next elections.

“It is a fact that there is strong resentment in the party against any union with those who left us in the lurch and worked against us… But at the same time Mian Sahib realises that an alliance – at least an electoral one – will be vital to wipe out the PPP from Punjab,” a top party leader said. Efforts are already under way for forging an alliance of right-wing parties comprising different factions of the Muslim League and some smaller religio-political groups – to set up a daunting challenge to the ruling PPP.

Two factions of the party, led by Pir Pagara and the Chaudhrys of Gujrat respectively, are already working towards their merger. Both the PML-F and PML-Q are also separately in touch with the PML-N for an alliance, if not a complete merger.

“Nawaz Sharif had set a key condition: those who sided with Musharraf and worked against PML-N should publicly apologise for their mistake. But now he is showing some leniency, realising the ground realities,” said a PML-N leader who is close to Nawaz.

Recently, the two associates of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Senators Tariq Azim and SM Zafar held a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other key leaders of the PML-N in Lahore. Tariq is expected to hold another meeting with Nawaz Sharif in the coming weeks.

The PML-Q and its breakaway faction, PML-Like Minded, both acknowledge that a united Muslim League is in the best interest for them all. Some leaders from both of these factions are in contact with the PML-N one way or the other, but none has so far received any overwhelming response from the other side. PML-N insiders give many reasons for this cold response from their side and say that it was due to the policy of the top leadership which believes that a hasty move will send wrong signals within the party ranks.

They say that the party’s hardcore workers will be disappointed with such a policy of accommodating “turncoats”.

Another close associate of Nawaz said he wanted the next general elections fought on the basis of one broader division characterised by pro-PPP and anti-PPP sentiments – at least in Punjab, a province that determines who rules the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2010.